


Once We're Through

by Khaelis



Series: The Story of How I Lived [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Bonding, Episode Fix-It: s02e13 Doomsday, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Episode AU: s02e13 Doomsday, Telepathic Bond, Time Lord Rose Tyler
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-04-22 00:47:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14297139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khaelis/pseuds/Khaelis
Summary: "They were both alive. That was enough. They would be fine."[Prompt-Fic | Doomsday Fix-It | The Doctor brings Rose back]





	Once We're Through

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I promised, so here is the prologue to a second story, that starts right at the end of the first - epilogue aside.  
> If you've read Getting Through, welcome back, I'm glad you decided to read this new story!  
> If you haven't read it, none of what's coming will make much sense, so if you're intersted in this I suggest you read the first part of the series!
> 
> In this story, I will explore how Rose turns into a Time Lady (a little), there will probably be adventures (a few), and then there will be fluff (tons, because LBH they deserve it after everything that happened)!  
> I'll add the tags as I write, because I'm not sure how all of this will turn out yet! Be warned that the rating will definitely go up later, though!
> 
> Anyway, here goes a short prologue - the next chapters will be longer, I'll stick to ~4000/5000 words!
> 
> I hope you'll like it!

* * *

 

 

“You stink like a bloody rat.”

  
  


His eardrums buzzed at the glorious sound of her rough, broken whisper and his hearts soared with ecstatic happiness when she turned her head to press a kiss on his dirty, tousled hair. He laughed. He laughed against her skin he refused to admit probably smelled just as bad as his, he laughed until his ribs ached and his abdomen hurt, he laughed until his lungs gave up and stopped filling up with fresh air, and even then, he kept laughing because nothing could make him any happier than to hear his precious Rose laugh with him.

 

They were through. Rose had said they would make it, and they had. He didn’t think he’d ever get over the guilt, he didn’t think he would ever forget everything he had put his beautiful, precious Rose through. But he knew that would make him better. He had to be better. The scars would remind him just how lucky he was. They were just scars, when they could have been open wounds. Just scars when he could be dead. They could both be dead. A cold shudder trickled down his spine as a brief picture of a different timeline flashed behind his eyes. Despair. Pain. Death. He hurried to blink it away and found comfort in the way her trembling lips fought to smile. Alive. So alive. They would be fine.

 

He had been blessed with a lifetime he’d get to spend by her side and he’d cherish every single minute of it. The Rose Tyler he had once met in a shop didn’t exist any longer. She was long gone. The Rose Tyler he had fallen in love with was dead. The pink and yellow human who had stolen his hearts had ceased to exist. The innocent, gullible, and selfless young woman who had twined her fingers with his on that day was just a memory.

 

Rose Tyler was now a fierce and tenacious lioness he was almost scared had grown too fast, too much, too  _ different  _ to love him as much as she had once. Almost.

 

Her mind was still adjusting, its abilities dulled, weak, its signals oscillating between a breath of nothing and a roar of pain. And between these two extremes, a grateful whisper, a comforting caress, a promise of love. Just enough to understand the part of her that loved him hadn’t died along with her human body. He would be better to make sure that one part never perished. They would be fine.

 

The Doctor climbed onto the bed and brought her body close to his, nestling her head against his shoulder. Her laughter had died down, and he knew she wouldn’t laugh again for quite some time. There was one trial they still needed to overcome, one last obstacle to jump over before everything would be alright. The Bad Wolf had warned him.  _ A long and painful process _ . Because nothing could ever be simple and go smooth in this sodden universe.  He knew where they were headed, and he loved it. He wasn’t sure how they’d get to it, and he hated it. But he knew where. That was enough. They would be fine.

 

He carefully slipped a hand under her hoodie, trailed his fingers up her stomach, drew the underside of her breast with a feathery touch, and finally cupped her right breast into his palm. The skin felt a breadth colder than he was used to, the flesh slightly heavier, barely softer enough to truly make a difference. Signs that showed her body was morphing into a new one. That was the process he dreaded. He thought about all those things a Time Lord body possessed a human one didn’t. Two hearts. The binary vascular system. Two livers. A bigger brain. Different organs, different DNA, different senses. So many different things. He couldn’t know over how much time all these changes would occur, he couldn’t know how painful it would be, he couldn’t even know how these changes would happen. But, under his fingers, he felt the tiny flutters of the heart growing in her chest, each beat that brought her closer to her new life, each weak thud a step towards their shared future. That was enough. They would be fine.

 

Rose stirred against him and he felt her brow furrow against the skin of his neck, just as a sigh left her lips. 

  
  


“How are you feeling, love?” he murmured, brushing his knuckles down her ribs.

“Remember how you felt yesterday?” she mumbled through a weak breath.   
“I do,” the Doctor answered - and the prospect that she was suffering that much had his stomach twist uncomfortably.

“Triple that,” she groaned, her fingers momentarily tightening around his thigh. “But well… I survived a bomb explosion, so... Could be worse.”

“Surv… Rose, what’s the last thing you remember?” he asked - and Gods, did he pray she remembered what had happened  _ after  _ the bomb.

“ _ Boom _ ,” she simply breathed out, slumping harder against him. “And you stink.”

“In between, my love, what happened after the bomb exploded and before you woke up just now?”

“Dunno. Fainted?”

  
  


That was what he feared. She didn’t remember. She didn’t remember she had died and she didn’t remember what had happened with the Bad Wolf in the depth of her mind. She didn’t know she was turning into something she had never asked for. She didn’t feel her double heartbeat and she didn’t feel the changes happening. Not yet, anyway.

 

The Doctor swallowed hard, his throat bobbing up and down to keep the bile at bay, and he wrapped his arms tighter around her body. He was suddenly unsure. Scared.  _ Terrified _ . He had constantly repeated to her that being a Time Lord was like a curse sticking to his skin and following in the shadow of his steps, and now he had to tell her she was just as cursed as he was. He had caused this. 

 

But, just as she fell into the precipice of sleep once more, her mind hummed a single, fleeting thought. A quiet reassurance, a soothing relief.  _ We’re alive _ . They were alive. Very much alive, the both of them, safe on the Tardis. That was enough. They would be fine.

 

 

* * *

 


End file.
